NYT Pips Hints and Answers for Monday, Nov. 2, 2026: Easy, Medium and Hard Domino Placements

Monday’s Pips from The New York Times (NYT), for Nov. 2, 2026, has an Easy board by Ian Livengood and Medium and Hard boards by Rodolfo Kurchan; two hints for each come first, and every domino placement is at the end. The solutions come from the puzzle data the Times publishes for the game and were checked against every region’s rule. The boards go live at midnight in your time zone.

How Pips works

You place every domino so that each colored region meets its condition. A number means the pips in the region add up to it; = means every half shows the same value; ≠ means all are different; > and < set a total above or below a number; a region with no condition takes anything. Rows are counted from the top and columns from the left, so R2C5 is the second row, fifth column.

Monday’s Pips hints, Nov. 2, 2026

Easy (five dominoes: 0-5, 3-4, 1-3, 1-4, 1-0)

• Hint 1

  R1C2 and R1C5 must each add up to 1, so each holds a 1. Only the 1-3, 1-4 and 1-0 dominoes have a 1.
• Hint 2

  R3C6 must be more than 4, so it holds a 5. The 0-5 domino is the only one with a 5, so it fills R3C5 and R3C6.

Medium (seven dominoes: 4-3, 5-1, 3-1, 2-5, 5-4, 4-4, 2-3)

• Hint 1

  R3C1 must be more than 3, so it holds a 4 or a 5.
• Hint 2

  R1C6, R2C6 and R3C6 are equal, so you need three matching halves. The 4-4 domino supplies two of them, and a 4 appears on four halves in all.

Hard (sixteen dominoes on an eight-row board)

• Hint 1

  R1C5, R2C6 and R3C5 must each add up to 1, so each holds a 1. Six halves show a 1, spread over the 3-1, 1-1 (two halves), 1-4, 1-6 and 1-2 dominoes.
• Hint 2

  R2C7 must be more than 5, so it holds a 6. Only the 2-6 and 1-6 dominoes have a 6.

Solving tips

Look for single cells with a limit: a cell that must be more than 3, as on Monday’s Medium board, can only hold a 4 or a 5 there. An “equal” region shrinks your options fast once one value is known; a double such as the 4-4 can supply two matching halves at once. On the Hard board, count the single cells with an exact sum: three need a 1, two need a 2 and two need a 3, so seven of the 32 cells are fixed from the start. R4C1 must be less than 1, which makes it a 0.

More of Monday’s puzzles: Wordle hints, Connections hints and Spelling Bee hints. Track your solve times on our printable weekly calendar or the November 2026 calendar.

Monday’s Pips answers, Nov. 2, 2026 (spoilers)

Stop here if you want to solve the boards yourself.

Some dominoes on the Medium and Hard boards can be flipped without breaking a rule: the 5-1 on Medium, and the 2-0 and 2-5 on Hard. The values below are one arrangement that fits the placements in the puzzle data and every region’s condition.

Easy, by Ian Livengood. Regions: R2C2 and R3C2 are equal; R3C4 and R3C5 are equal; R1C2 adds up to 1; R1C5 adds up to 1; R3C6 is more than 4; R3C1 is less than 4; R2C5 and R3C3 take any value.

• 0-5: R3C5 = 0, R3C6 = 5
• 3-4: R3C1 = 3, R3C2 = 4
• 1-3: R1C5 = 1, R2C5 = 3
• 1-4: R1C2 = 1, R2C2 = 4
• 1-0: R3C3 = 1, R3C4 = 0

Medium, by Rodolfo Kurchan. Regions: R1C3 is less than 4; R1C6, R2C6 and R3C6 are equal; R2C1 and R2C2 add up to 8; R2C3, R2C4, R3C3 and R3C4 total less than 11; R2C5 and R3C5 total less than 8; R3C1 is more than 3; R3C2 takes any value.

• 4-3: R3C1 = 4, R2C1 = 3
• 5-1: R3C4 = 5, R3C3 = 1
• 3-1: R1C3 = 3, R2C3 = 1
• 2-5: R3C2 = 2, R2C2 = 5
• 5-4: R3C5 = 5, R3C6 = 4
• 4-4: R1C6 = 4, R2C6 = 4
• 2-3: R2C5 = 2, R2C4 = 3

Hard, by Rodolfo Kurchan. Regions: R1C5 adds up to 1; R1C7 adds up to 3; R2C3, R3C3, R3C4 and R4C4 add up to 16; R2C4 adds up to 3; R2C5 adds up to 2; R2C6 adds up to 1; R2C7 is more than 5; R2C8 is less than 2; R3C1 is less than 2; R3C2, R4C2, R4C3 and R5C3 are equal; R3C5 adds up to 1; R3C6, R4C6 and R5C6 are all different; R3C7 and R4C7 total less than 3; R4C1 is less than 1; R4C5 adds up to 2; R5C2 is more than 4; R5C4, R5C5, R6C4 and R7C4 are equal; R8C4 and R8C5 add up to 7; R1C6 takes any value.

• 4-3: R2C3 = 4, R2C4 = 3
• 3-2: R1C7 = 3, R1C6 = 2
• 3-1: R3C4 = 3, R3C5 = 1
• 0-5: R5C4 = 0, R4C4 = 5
• 2-0: R3C7 = 2, R4C7 = 0
• 0-3: R5C5 = 0, R5C6 = 3
• 1-1: R2C6 = 1, R3C6 = 1
• 1-4: R3C1 = 1, R3C2 = 4
• 2-5: R8C4 = 2, R8C5 = 5
• 4-4: R3C3 = 4, R4C3 = 4
• 4-5: R5C3 = 4, R5C2 = 5
• 2-6: R4C5 = 2, R4C6 = 6
• 1-6: R2C8 = 1, R2C7 = 6
• 1-2: R1C5 = 1, R2C5 = 2
• 4-0: R4C2 = 4, R4C1 = 0
• 0-0: R6C4 = 0, R7C4 = 0

The Hard board has three doubles: 1-1, 4-4 and 0-0. The 0-0 fills R6C4 and R7C4, two of the four cells in the region that must be equal. Tuesday’s boards arrive at midnight.